1 Chapter 1

I stared at the yellow container of pills on my family's kitchen island hidden in the array of groceries my mum had also bought alongside them, they just sat there as they were an everyday item and belonged here. They didn't. My brother walked down, his hands filled with his and my mum's luggage, my dad following close behind. Just looking at him made me swallow back the potential threat of tears. He didn't deserve this, nobody did.

At first glance you wouldn't have thought my dad was ill at all, in fact he looked pretty good. But he was dying. Something that took me months to comprehend. If you looked closely you might notice his tired and drained eyes, and the slight paleness of his skin, but other than that he looked like your normal average dad. Which made this situation 10 times harder to accept. He looked ok, but he wasn't and this affected me deeply.

"Taylor, is all you stuff ready to be put into the car?" my mum questioned, snapping me out of my train of thoughts.

"yeah, it's in the hallway". This summer was probably going to be my dad's last, so we decided we would go back to our old lake house, somewhere I hadn't been since I was 14. I used to love going there, however now it just feels like a drag. At 18 years old, I could think of 100 better things to spend my summer doing, none of them being away for the entire time. However I just had to suck it up, for my dad. He was always so happy and positive and i didn't want to be the person to bring him down, even if the thought of this trip made me want to die. I was mostly scared about who I might see again. My parents had many friends around the lake who had kids me and my siblings would meet up with and hang out with. The last time i was there i had my first kiss with Matthew Johnson, a cute scrawny boy who i haven't seen in 4 years. The embarrassment I would feel if I saw him again. Our family's were close the last time we went, I got on well with all of them, especially Matty's siblings George, his non-identical twin, and Cameron, their older sister. I could relate to Cameron and we talked about girly things, she was the only one who knew about my crush on her younger brother. As for George we got on like brother and sister, I used to consider him one of my best friends, but obviously we've drifted to the point of no contact at all. And as for Matty, we were the closest. But i really didn't want to see him.

All I was hoping for was to chill by the lake, catch a tan and not see my childhood crush. Although the likelihood of seeing him and his family again would be slim, it's been 4 years and they're probably off doing their own thing.

"Taylor, you ready?" my older brother warren asked me, as he pulled all of our suitcases through the door.

"Right everyone in the car for our family road trip," my mum said with way too much enthusiasm, I sucked it up and replied with a smile. This was gonna be a long summer.

I get out of the car, stretching my legs out after the 5 hour car journey. I looked up at the lake house, just how we left it. I looked over to Johnson's old lake house next door, but I couldn't see if anyone was there due to a hedge blocking their driveway. I walk into the large house, and instantly floods of memories come back, all of them containing at least one of the Johnsons. Our families were really close, and we genuinely had the best time with them. I go up to my old room, still the same. The feeling of nostalgia becoming increasingly strong, and almost overwhelming.

"Mum, I'm going for a walk to look around" I said, desperate to get some fresh air.

"ok honey, have a look and see if that old run down arcade is still there, you all loved hanging out there" she smiled, clearly enjoying the nostalgia of this place more than me.

"isn't it amazing that we're back here," my dad beamed, seeing him so happy and enthusiastic about this place made me feel extremely guilty about how badly I didn't want to be here. I suppose it would be more bearable knowing this was what my dad wanted.

"I'll be back later" I replied, before scurrying out of the house. Looking out to the lake made me feel more calm. This place really was beautiful. I noticed the long thin dock stretched out into the lake. Making me reminisce all the times I jumped off it. Everything really was better back then. I was happy and my dad was healthy. Maybe that's why it was so hard being here, the last time we were here our family was practically perfect, now we're back here and its about to crumble apart.

I headed towards the woods, following the path I knew extremely well, heading where the arcade, café and a few restaurants were. These were opened seasonally as most people only came to their lake houses in the summer. I walked past the arcade, which was surprisingly still open. I was about to turn around, to head back home, when something caught my eye. A girl, dusty blonde hair leaving the café with an array of cakes and coffees. My heart dropped when I realised it was Cameron Johnson. The Johnson's were here.